Monday 30 August 2010

In The Beauty Of The Lilies…

I received an unexpected gift of flowers from a friend last week – the lilies were in bud, but have gradually opened, and released their lovely perfume to fill the room. A fragrant reminder of the words of Jesus…

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes?

See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labour or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendour was dressed like one of these.

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One thing I have never understood though – in the ‘Battle Hymn Of The Republic’ [Mine eyes have seen the glory etc] there’s a verse which begins “In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea”. What does that mean? Are there lots of lilies in Bethlehem? Anybody got any idea?

4 comments:

  1. Lilies are beautiful - they remind me of Princess Diana whose loved them. I wonder if the line in the Battle Hymn means he was born across the sea from America. Never thought about it before but it's intriguing. Hope someone comes up with the right answer. Blessings!

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  2. Swaddled in white? Innocent?
    I would love to know too.
    Jane

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  3. Me again!
    Just rethought that hymn line.
    "In the beauty of the lilies" White lilies are a symbol of rebirth (and therefore Easter) in N. America. So,I think the line refers to Christ's resurrection as in "Christ was born across the sea" (literally overseas from the U.S.).
    Gosh, hope that makes sense!
    Jane

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  4. Yes, hubby was on his sabbatical in Israel when the lilies were in bloom. Apparently an exquisite sight! I only joined him at the tail end of his sabbatical to tour the country and then visit Europe and England. I didn't get the honor to see the spring flowers bloom. I checked this one link and it mentioned the fairly rare Madonna Lily. There must be more info on Google! Interesting post!

    http://www.flowers-israel.net/SitePage.aspx?PageID=390

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